IT Service Introduction Manager
Full time / Part time
Salary: £44,297-£49,813 with potential to further progression to £56,082 our pay progression scheme.
Location: Hybrid
Contracted to our Wilmslow office.
Our Wilmslow office will be relocating to Manchester city centre from 28 September 2026. Once the move takes place your contracted office will be Circle Square, Manchester. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.
Why work for the ICO?
1. Pay progression scheme.
2. Hybrid and flexible working options.
3. 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
4. Flexi leave (up to26 additional daysleave per year).
5. Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
6. Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
7. Health Cash Plan.
8. Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.
Further details can be found on the benefits section of our .
Job description
This role is a strategic leadership position accountable for developing, implementing and managing a robust service introduction process for the DDaT directorate. This role is responsible for assuring the operational readiness of new projects and services prior to their going live. You will own the end-to-end readiness process and be responsible for ensuring a successful and smooth transition into live service
Reporting to the Head of IT Operations, this role requires a broad understanding of the various specialisms across the DDaT directorate, as you will be accountable for assuring the successful introduction of new or changed IT services into live operation.
This role works closely with Project Managers, Delivery Managers, and Product/Service Owners providing advice, guidance and direction to ensure seamless transition and support for new services in the operational teams within DDaT.
You will need a strong customer-focus, to be resilient and adept influencing senior stakeholders, and be an expert at coordinating service transition activities across multiple teams.
Key Responsibilities
9. Acts as the authority and primary point of contact for all service introduction and transition activities across the DDaT directorate – including all new products, services and projects delivering a solution into the live environment
10. Design, implement, and continuously improve the Service Introduction processes as part of a broader IT governance framework
11. Provide advice and guidance to project and product teams to assure that their service readiness
12. Coordinate and manage service acceptance activities including testing, training, handover and go/no go decisions
13. Review and revise existing service operational documentation (Service Definition Documents) in conjunction with wider organisation
14. Oversee the development and maintenance of support documentation sets: including runbook templates, support model templates, and escalation procedures
15. Facilitate workshops and meetings to gather requirements and feedback
16. Lead the establishment of KPIs and metrics to measure service introduction success
17. Identify and manage risks associated with new services.
18. Acts as the single point of contract for senior stakeholders, building strong relationships and ensuring effective engagement to support service delivery to live services
19. Evaluate and ensure current and future needs are met
20. Ensure compliance with internal governance and audit requirements
Person specification
Essential criteria assessed at application stage
21. Experience working in IT Operational / Service team with multiple stakeholders
22. Proven experience in IT Service Management, ideally within a Service Introduction Transition or Delivery role.
23. Experience with liaising with external third-party support partners
24. Strong understanding of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practices, particularly Service Transition and Service Operation.
25. A demonstrable systematic, disciplined and analytical approach to work
Essential criteria assessed during interview:
26. Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to form effective working relationships at all levels
27. Excellent standard of literacy and effective written communication skills for writing documentation and reports and meeting notes
28. Good intellectual and analytical ability in order to assimilate often complex data or technical information and apply it to the operational activities of the ICO
29. Strong time management, organised and delivery focused, good planning skills and process driven
30. Ability to step up when needed and offer support even when outside normal hours if required
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.
Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.
As part of the ICO’s commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy
If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at k
Closing Date
Please submit your CV and cover letter to by 23:59 on Wednesday 13th May 2026 Your cover letter should be no more than 1,000 words and should clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at .
In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.
All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.
Clearance Required for this role:
Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)